Modi rule 'complete disaster'; UPA-III could be a reality: Chidambaram

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram has described the five year rule of the Narendra Modi government as a "complete disaster", saying the BJP will not be able to form the next government and UPA-III could be a reality.

The former Union minister also said the BJP's "campaign of polarisation" is a complete failure in southern and western states and the impact it will have in northern and eastern India remains to be seen.

"We are absolutely confident that the BJP will not be able to form the government again. The government will be a non-BJP government. Obviously, the UPA that is Congress plus pre-election allies will play a big part. If there are more post election allies, I think UPA-III has a very good chance," he told PTI in an interview.

Giving an analysis of the performance of the Modi government, Chidambaram said on economic front, it has absolutely and conclusively established that economic growth has slowed down and "unemployment is highest in 45 years".

"In fact, I have the data put out by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy which shows unemployment has reached 8.4 per cent in the third week of April 2019. It is the highest unemployment rate in over 45 years," he said.

On the social harmony, the former finance minister said there has been a complete breakdown of social harmony, particularly in northern states where community is pitted against community, caste is pitted against caste and and all these have happened under Modi.

On the security front, Chidambaram said the country was today less secured than what it was under former prime minister Manmohan Singh.

"During the 10 years of the UPA rule, there was no war with Pakistan or China. Although there was infiltration and casualties, they had come down to the lowest level in
"I have not heard anyone claiming the post of PM. Every party leader is entitled to say 'if my party wins, my party can provide the PM candidate'. What is wrong with that?